Bush's invasion of Iraq, seven years on
- My thanks to AP for having compiled and published these (most likely conservative) figures today:
March 31, 2003: 90,000.
October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup.
March 1, 2010: Just over 96,000.
COALITION TROOP LEVELS:
Number of countries that participated in "Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq" at the start of the war: 31, including the United States.
As of August 2009, all non-U.S. coalition members had withdrawn from Iraq.
PRIVATE CONTRACTORS:
Number of U.S. private contractors in Iraq as of August, 2008: 190,000.
CASUALTIES:
Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of March 19, 2010: at least 4,385.
States with the highest number of U.S. troop deaths as of March 19, 2010: California, 470; Texas, 411; Pennsylvania, 195; Florida, 193; New York, 188; Ohio, 183; Michigan, 159; Illinois, 156.
Deaths of civilian employees of U.S. government contractors in Iraq as of Dec. 31, 2009: 1,457.
Deaths of coalition troops (non-U.S.) as of March 19, 2010: at least 315.
Iraqi deaths since the 2003 invasion: more than 95,680, according to the Iraq Body Count database.
COST:
More than $712 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. To date, $747.3 billion has been allocated to the war in Iraq since 2003. In August 2008, the Congressional Budget Office projected that additional war costs for the next 10 years could range from $440 billion to $865 billion.
COST PER MONTH:
As of July 2008, the Department of Defense's monthly obligations for contracts and pay averaged about $9.9 billion for Iraq.
As of July 2009, the Department of Defense's monthly obligations for contracts and pay averaged about $7.3 billion for Iraq.
INDICTMENTS AND CONVICTIONS:
As of Jan. 30, 2010, the work of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction investigators has resulted in 26 arrests, 33 indictments, 25 convictions, and more than $53 million in fines, forfeitures, recoveries and restitution.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN IRAQ:
January 2004: 30-45 percent.
January 2010: an estimated 15.5-30 percent.
COST OF A BARREL OF OIL:
March 28, 2003: $21.50.
March 12, 2010: $77.32.
OIL PRODUCTION
Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.
March 17, 2010: 2.43 million barrels per day.
ELECTRICITY:
Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 4-8.
March 3, 2010: Nationwide: 6,090 megawatts. Hours per day: 15.0.
Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.
March 3, 2010: Baghdad: Megawatts N/A. Hours per day: 15.5.
Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.
TELEPHONES:
Prewar land lines: 833,000.
Jan. 2010: 1,300,000.
Prewar cell phones: 80,000.
Jan. 2010: An estimated 19.5 million.
WATER:
Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.
Jan. 30, 2010: More than 21.2 million people have potable water.
SEWERAGE:
Prewar: 6.2 million people served.
Jan. 30, 2010: 11.5 million people served.
INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS:
September 2003: 4,900.
Jan. 2010: 1,600,000.
INTERNAL REFUGEES:
Prewar: 1,021,962.
March 2010: At least 1.5 million people are currently displaced inside Iraq.
EMIGRANTS:
Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad.
March 2010: Approximately 2 million Iraqis, mainly in Syria and Jordan.
Jan. 2010: At least 216,430 refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to Iraq.
All figures are the most recent available.
Sources: The Associated Press, State Department, Defense Department, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, The Brookings Institution, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, National Priorities Project, Department of Labor, Congressional Budget Office, Iraq Body Count, Energy Information Administration.
- Let us also remember that the 'pre-war baseline' presented itself represented a standard of life (and death) for the Iraqi people that had been massively depressed as a result of 13 years of very tight sanctions, whose tightness was maintained from about 1993-- Clinton's arrival in power-- primarily by the insistence of the U.S. and its sidekick in the U.K. on maintaining them in a punitively tight way. Throughout that period, the U.N. estimated that around 500,000 Iraqis, mainly the very young and the very old, died deaths that would have been avoidable in the absence of sanctions.
In memoriam of all those who died and with solidarity and compassion for all who survived.
~HC
Thank you Helena for these statistics and figuers. I found them very helpeful and useful for any academic research concerning Middle East.
Hafid
Sobering.
Among the dry "yowsers" in there, the oil figure:
COST OF A BARREL OF OIL:
March 28, 2003: $21.50.
March 12, 2010: $77.32.
For a war oft' deemed from the left to reduce being "all about oil," this is a curious result.... (getting remarkably little attention)
Consider too how the media over the past few years has ignored the ongoing story of oil futures market manipulation, even after the implosions on Wall Street in large part touched off by Merril Lynch's manipulations of oil futures markets.
It seems we have all news all the time here in the US, covering less and less that really matters.
Ah, can't wait to hear the latest incarnation of the ING analysts telling us that "it's different now" -- that war with Iraq, with Iran, etc. -- that high energy prices won't hurt the economy. Where are the texas teabaggers on this one?
(ah, they're busy expunging "godless" Thomas Jefferson in their school text books with Jefferson Davis....)
I noticed that AP used the Iraq Body Count database, which includes only officially verified deaths. Other estimates put the number of Iraqi civilian casualties at over a million. To reflect the actual situation better, AP could have used a range instead of a conservative, precise figure.
John H, I completely agree. But I am glad that AP did at least as much as they did to mark the anniversary.
2010 UNHCR country operations profile - Iraq
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e486426